Christmas Eve Feast

We held a big Christmas Eve feast to celebrate Christmas. Two cows were cooked by the guys in a pit so that everyone could have a feed. There were even games and presents for the children, with an appearance by Santa Claus – who handed out the presents!

Roper and Wilton River Bridges Open

Ngukurr will be accessible for most of the year now – with new bridges opening over the Roper and Wilton rivers. This is a big change for Ngukurr, which has usually been cut-off for anywhere from 3 to 6 months of the year, with access only via barge. The new bridges will allow all year round access – excepting extreme wet seasons which might affect access for a week or two.

The original road over the Roper Bar Crossing is now closed, with a picnic site being built over the other side. An official opening ceremony and naming of the bridges will occur next year.

Yugul Festival 2017

Yugul Festival this year was a huge success! With Football and Basketball matches played during the day, which one of the visiting teams won. The Saturday night concert had  performances from Sunrize Band, Salt Lake, Eylandt Band and the local Yugul Band which all had everybody on the dance floor grooving.

Everyone is looking forward to Festival next year.

Award Winning Wi Stadi bla Kantri Research Team

The Ngukurr Wi Stadi bla Kantri (We Study the Country) Research Team is the 2017 winner of the Australian Museum Department of Industry, Innovation and Science Eureka Prize for Innovation in Citizen Science:

A unique collaboration between scientists and Aboriginal people in remote south-eastern Arnhem Land is building knowledge about country and how local people can better manage it.

In the last nine years the Ngukurr Wi Stadi bla Kantri (We Study the Country) Research Team has discovered species new to science, found new populations of threatened species, preserved culturally-significant wetlands, and documented the community’s plants and animals in eight local languages.

Ngukurr Community Elders Agreement

Some troublemakers in community have been starting fights lately. The Elders were concerned about this and held a meeting with Police and all the local stakeholder groups to sort out what we could do about it.

The Elders decided that we should be removing troublemakers from community, so that they don’t cause issues and disrupt everyone else. Troublemakers would be asked to leave by community and if they don’t, Police would remove them. This was drafted up as the Ngukurr Community Elders Agreement and signed by everyone present.

The Elders Agreement; Bobby adds his signature

We don’t want fights in community and people causing trouble. Under this agreement, Ngukurr will be a safe community for everyone.

Yuma wandi len Kriol?

If you want to learn Kriol, the Language Centre is running another of their Kriol Awareness Courses – A basic introduction to understanding Kriol for English speakers and living and working with Kriol speakers. Taught in a fun and interactive way.

Date Saturday 7, and Sunday 8 October
Time 9:00am–12:00pm & 1:00pm – 4:00pm (both days)
Location Ngukurr Language Centre (Batchelor Study Centre)
Lot 398 Mutju Street, Ngukurr NT
Cost: $198 (includes snacks and GST)

Contact the Language Centre to book.

Telstra services restored

Work on the new bore disconnected Telstra services to Ngukurr on Monday. As a result, all services were out with no Mobile Service, landline or internet access.

This had a big impact on the community:

  • unable to make or receive phone calls,
  • no internet services,
  • purchase electricity for home (using new 3G connected electricity meters),
  • buy fuel (at all, even with cash),
  • buy food at the store without cash.

Service was restored Tuesday night just after 8pm.

Advice given to Yugul Mangi is that the bore workers were drilling and cut through the cable. They knew the cable was there and had received confirmation from Telstra that it was safe to dig through (advice that it was an old unused cable) only to find the cable was still active as a result of previous work on the line allegedly not being done correctly.

Fire

It was all hands on deck yesterday afternoon as a fire came around the back of the Darlala Motel. Fire can be a regular occurrence, particularly with the build-up of fuel after the strong wet season this year.

Thankfully no property was damaged thanks to the help of the Darlala Motel staff, local Ngukurr Police, the Ngukurr Language Centre, and even some electricians from All Regions Electrical who lent a hand. Back-burning earlier in the year also helped to keep the fire from getting too close.

NT Writers’ Festival at Ngukurr Arts Saturday May 20

The Ngukurr Art Centre is inviting everyone to attend a live streaming of the NT Writers’ Festival at the Art Centre on Saturday May 20 from 9.15am.

Come down, enjoy an iced-coffee and some homemade banana bread while you get inspired by writers beaming in from Alice Springs, including Bruce Pascoe. See more in the: Satellite Sessions Program.

And you can check out some of the new work that’s been produced at Ngukurr Arts this year.

All are welcome.

Wilton Detour Road Open

The Wilton Detour Road is now open, which allows trucks to come directly into community and unload, rather than goods coming in via barge.

20170511_115028With the detour open, our barge is now out of the water. With the Roper River Bridge and Wilton Bridges opening later this year, we have hopefully seen an end to Ngukurr relying on a barge to receive regular deliveries of food and goods.